1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to hand tools and more precisely to a multipurpose bicycle repair and maintenance tool kit. The present invention is a compact bicycle tool kit easily carried on the bike or by the rider for use if a breakdown occurs or an adjustment needs to be made on the road.
2. Description of Prior Art
Bicyclists have long been plagued with the problem of minor breakdowns occurring .while riding when they are far from help or access to repair equipment. Because of the excess weight and limited storage space, conventional tools are seldom transported along with the bike for repair and adjustment purposes. The majority of problems occurring on conventional bicycles can be fixed or adjusted with only a few specific tools. Combining these specific tools into one lightweight compact unit would be particularly useful to the biker which is the purpose of the immediate invention.
A past art patent search was conducted at the U.S. Patent Office to examine kits and combination tools which included specific tools required for certain areas of bicycle repair. Most multipurpose tools and kits specifically for bicycle use appeared inadequate. Of those patents examined. the following were considered most pertinent to my invention: J.L. Weston was granted U.S. Pat. No. 4,477,936, on Oct. 23. 1984, for a multi-purpose bicycle tool. Although this device contains several useful tools, it does not contain a chain link remover which is vital for repairing a broken bike chain, nor does it contain any allen wrenches for seat adjustments.
Several past art devices included tools primarily for removal of links from chains without including other tool combinations. Typical of these tools is the R.C. Jordan device, patented in the U.S. on Sep. 9, 1980, U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,113, and the tool shown in a U.S. patent issued to J.F. Granados, on Aug. 1, 1978, U.S. Pat. No. 4,103,378. Granados discloses a tool principally designed for chain breaking which also has tool parts for tightening wheel spokes and for trueing or dishing bicycle wheels.
None of the above mentioned past art devices included sufficient tools needed for many of the basic repair problems prevalent to bicycles.
Suitable multipurpose bicycle tools or tool kits have been invented in the past, such as my multipurpose bicycle tool kit taught in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,435 issued Nov. 6, 1990. My tool kit disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,435 utilizes an adjustable open end wrench, which does function as desired reasonably well, however, adjustable open end wrenches may be considered somewhat expensive to manufacture when compared to some structures, and additionally, when not properly adjusted, have been known to round-off nuts or bolt heads. The immediate invention of this disclosure is an improved multipurpose bicycle tool kit similar to that taught in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,435, only the invention of this disclosure utilizes a plate-like web having either a plurality of open end or box style wrenches, or a combination of both as a replacement for the adjustable open end wrench of my previous invention.
My U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,435 issued Nov. 6, 1990 is incorporated herein by reference for both essential and nonessential material.